MALAYSIA WILL NOT ACCEPT U.S.-APPOINTED IRAQI GOVERNMENT: MINISTER

Kuala Lumpur - Malaysia will not recognise an Iraqi government set up and influenced by the United States as such an administration would be `illegal`, Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said Tuesday.
Syed Hamid said that a new Iraqi administration could not be seen as a `legally established government` if the U.S. played any role in influencing its leadership.
`So long as the occupying powers are there, whoever (the U.S.) put there is not representative of the Iraqi people, even though they are Iraqis (themselves),` he said.